Conventional concrete block machines are typically designed with internal molds that create cells or hollow portions of a concrete masonry unit (CMU). For such applications, a conventional mold array is not simply a series of rectangular mold boxes ganged together. Each mold box must contain the displacement molds that create the cells. This makes for expensive and heavy arrays, and also requires different arrays for each configuration of cells in a block. A full complement of mold arrays can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
In a conventional concrete block machine, each process or action occurs within the same section of the machine, which is commonly referred to as a throat. Conventional blocks are formed by pouring concrete into single or multiple molds, which have fixed dimensions and rigid sides. During the extraction of finished blocks from such molds, the molds are dragged off of the blocks, which can visually mar the cosmetic face of the block.